The Eagles of Alexandria
2011
Directed by Raymond Collet
Collection The Skills of Archaeology
Melle, Western France, at the experimental archaeology centre known as the Plate-forme des arts du feu. In 2007-2008, the first experiments in coin-making techniques focused on owls, silver coins minted in Athens in Classical times. Summer 2009: for this new session, the numismatists will be focusing on bronze coins, and more specifically on the twin eagle coin that was minted in Alexandria in the 2nd century BC. After a preliminary study in Egypt, Thomas Faucher's team are in Melle and the experimentation can begin... The physical approach is now more reliable, but the operational chain involved in making bronze coins is different and has its share of new puzzles. Despite everything, the results are promising: the coins produced by the team are all very close to archaeological objects. Even if many questions remain unanswered, the team's mastery of the techniques used by ancient coin-makers is improving all the time.